Despite their availability on campus, the emergency call boxes seem to be underused.

According to Lt. Todd Henert, most of the emergency calls the University Police receives come through cell phones. The majority of the calls the UP receives from the call boxes are usually from people who just push the button and walk away.

“By and large, we have more false alarms than actual emergencies,” Henert said.

According to the UP’s database, call boxes on campus were activated 147 times from January 2008 to September 2008. When reviewing 30 of those cases, they turned out to involve someone hitting the button and walking away or another person saying they saw someone hit the button and walk away.

And while the majority are false alarms, Henert said the UP treats the cases like they were investigating a 911 hang up.

“It can take from a couple of seconds to a minute, depending on locations,” Henert said in regards to how fast police can arrive at a call box that has been activated.

Although they are not used as often, many students said they were comforted by the call boxes’ presence. Matthew Venaas, speaker of the Student Association Senate, said that importance cannot be measured in frequency of use.

“A lot of precautions we have for security aren’t used all the time, but it’s comforting to know they exist if we do need them,” Venaas said.

Freshman undecided major Joe Zozzaro said the benefits of the call boxes outweigh the negatives.

“What if someone doesn’t have a cell phone on them,” Zorraro said. “It’s more convenient to hit a button than call.”

However, sophomore business major Kaely Gaskins said she doesn’t feel much safer with call boxes on campus.

“An attacker is not going to stand near a call box,” Gaskins said.

Henert said there are no plans to expand or upgrade the call boxes. In a 2007 Northern Star article, members of the SA Senate expressed interest in adding call boxes to off-campus locations like Greek Row but nothing happened. SA president Brent Keller said they will be working towards this.

“It provides the reassuring feeling for students to know that they’re safe,” Keller said in regards to the boxes.

According to a 2006 Northern Star article, there are about 81 call boxes on campus. Forty-six of them are located on the parking deck, while the other 35 are scattered throughout campus.

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